


Honey Don't Feed It, It Will Come Back

by ADreamIsASoftPlaceToLand



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Fantasy AU, I just wrote jupeter as a fairy tale, It's kind of sad, Juno's a monster, Junoverse | Juno Steel Universe, Miasma's a witch, Other, Peter's still a Thief, Sort Of, as a bedtime story originally, but then it got long, fairy tale AU, sad but hopeful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 15:17:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21210704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADreamIsASoftPlaceToLand/pseuds/ADreamIsASoftPlaceToLand
Summary: Once upon a time there was a thief who met a little monster.





	Honey Don't Feed It, It Will Come Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AetherAria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherAria/gifts).

> I originally thought of this as a bedtime story for @AetherAria, and then it somehow ended up being 1k. 
> 
> title from "It Will Come Back" by Hozier

Once upon a time, there was a thief. The thief stole many things, sneaking in and taking what he wanted, then vanishing into the night without a trace, never to be seen again. He only ever stole from people who deserved it, though. Or people that could stand to lose a few things, anyway. He stole everything his heart desired, always on the run, loving the feeling of running simultaneously away and toward.

Until, one day, the thief met a little monster. And he came to a screeching halt for the first time in years. This little monster wasn’t very scary, not really. He was too small to do any real damage, or so the thief thought. In fact, the little monster was quite charming. He didn’t seem so bad, once you got past some of the sharper edges. 

In fact, even though the monster warned him that he was bad, that he’d only hurt the thief, that he should stay away, the thief became quite convinced that the little monster wasn’t a monster at all. He was just a little misunderstood, and he tended to scare people off if they didn’t look at him too closely, that was all. So he stuck around. He became friends with the little monster. He told the monster his story. He let the monster see parts of him he wasn’t even sure were still here. The little monster didn’t seem to mind… Too much anyway. And then, one day, a witch came along and claimed that the thief had stolen something from her. The thief  _ had _ taken what she accused him of stealing, and so he prepared himself to leave his little monster behind, and return with the witch to her lair, where he would serve her until she set him free. 

But, the little monster stepped forward. “He didn’t steal from you,” the little monster said. “I did.”

The thief tried to protest, but instead the witch just said, “Fine, I’ll take you  _ both _ .”

In the witch’s lair, they were hurt. Tortured. Punished. The thief never gave up hope, though. He became determined to get them out. They were going to escape. He wasn’t going to let this little monster die. He wasn’t. 

So, when the time finally came for them to escape, he tried desperately to earn their freedom. But, the little monster was wounded, and couldn’t keep up with him. He had to leave his little monster behind. And so, he left. He left, and he prepared. He was a thief. And now he had a new target. He had to steal back his little monster from the witch, and this time, the witch wasn’t going to get off as easily as she had the last time he stole something from her. 

When he was ready, he went back to the witch’s lair and found his little monster. But the witch was ready for him this time, and she tried to put a curse on the thief that would kill him. Just before the spell could hit him, though, the little monster jumped in front of him and the spell hit him instead, and it knocked him to the floor. The witch disappeared with a horrified shriek, and the thief collapsed next to his little monster, who was surely dead. 

The little monster rolled over, looking a little dazed, but otherwise unharmed. “The spell hit you!” the thief cried. “Why did it not kill you? Why did you  _ do that _ for me?” 

“I don’t know,” the little monster replied. 

The thief didn’t know which question the little monster was answering. “It doesn’t matter now. Come on, let’s go home.”

The thief and the little monster went home, and the thief asked a question. “Do you want to stay with me?” 

“Yes,” the little monster replied. 

The thief should’ve expected the lie. He’d known all along that this was a little monster. He should’ve known the monster would eventually. The little monster left. The thief chided himself for trusting a monster, and moved on. He returned to his old life, he was a thief, it was nice to remember that. 

Some time after, the thief crossed paths with the little monster again. And, for the first time in a long time, the thief was angry. Not at the little monster, though. No, he was angry at himself. Because, even though he’d been hurt by this monster before, seeing him again still made the thief ache. Still made the thief long to reach out and touch the little monster, to protect him. 

The little monster looked at him as though it could  _ see _ this longing in the thief. Like it could see that longing and the old scars it had left, too, like it wanted to lick those old wounds and soothe away all the pain they’d ever caused. “I’m sorry,” the little monster said. 

“Why would you be sorry?” The thief asked. The monster hadn’t done anything wrong. The monster hadn’t broken any promises. He’d told the thief from the beginning that he would get hurt. He’d been the one who hadn’t listened. It was his mistake. 

The little monster spoke. “I don’t want to be a monster. But I am. I’m a monster, and I don’t want to hurt you, or anyone else, ever again. I cannot fix the mistakes I have made, and I do not ask for your forgiveness. I do not deserve that from you. I only want you to know that I am sorry, and that it was not your fault.”

The thief took a step forward, and looked the little monster in the eye. “I forgive you.”

They don’t live happily ever after, for monsters and thieves never do. But they do live, and that is enough. Neither of them are heroes, but they are still capable of good, and they are still capable of love. So, together, they soften each other, they love each other, and they work to create a little more light in the world, if only to outshine some of the darkness in themselves. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm @shorter-than-her-tbr-pile on tumblr if you wanna come yell with me!


End file.
